Really impressed with EVMs, VVPATs; risk to integrity of system with paper ballots: Australia’s envoy to India

Australia’s envoy to India, Harinder Sidhu, lauded the efforts of the Election Commission and its officials for organising the ongoing Lok Sabha election in which crores of voters have cast their ballots

New Delhi: Australia’s envoy to India, Harinder Sidhu, on Sunday praised the efforts of the Election Commission and its officials for getting crores of voters to cast their ballots in the ongoing 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Sidhu also hailed the EC for the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and said that she was “impressed” with its workings.

Speaking to news agency ANI on Sunday when 59 Lok Sabha seats across 6 states and the national capital went to polls, Sidhu said, “It's been a really inspiring experience. How can you get so many people to voting? The answer is well-organised EC and its officials. It's a good system and organised.”

She also noted that the paper ballot system followed in Australia can run the risk of having the integrity of the system compromised. She also lauded the use of VVPAT (Voter verified paper audit trail), which allows EVMs to record each vote by generating an EVM slip, thus ensuring more transparency in the process.

She said, “I'm really impressed with EVMs, we don't have those in Australia. I think even with paper ballots which we have in Australia, it's always a case where there's a risk to integrity in any system. VVPAT is actually a good development.”

Notably, in India, opposition parties have often questioned the credibility of the EVMs, alleging that these machines can be tampered with, thus making it easier for poll results to be rigged. The opposition parties have often demanded the polling process to revert to paper ballots.

Earlier this week on Tuesday, the Supreme Court had rejected the plea by 21 Opposition parties asking it to direct the Election Commission to cross-check at least 50% votes using VVPAT.

The delegation, led by TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu, had urged the SC to review its earlier order that mandated the EC to use the VVPAT slops to verify votes for five EVMs in every constituency during the ongoing polls. However, the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said in the review hearing on Tuesday, “We are not inclined to review our order."

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Really impressed with EVMs, VVPATs; risk to integrity of system with paper ballots: Australia’s envoy to IndiaDescription:Australia’s envoy to India, Harinder Sidhu, lauded the efforts of the Election Commission and its officials for organising the ongoing Lok Sabha election in which crores of voters have cast their ballotsTimes Now